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Monday, July 29, 2013

Combining Was Pretty Rough on Jesus

The combine, originally called the combine harvester, is a
machine that harvests grain. It combines three harvest operations: reaping,
threshing, and winnowing.

Winnowing uses wind to separate chaff and dust from grain.
In ancient farming, harvesters gathered the crop onto an outdoor threshing
floor. They tossed the mixture into the air with winnowing forks. Wind blew away
straw, chaff, and dust. Grain, being heavier, did not blow away. It fell to the
threshing floor and was saved.

Combines use a fan to make wind. They blow chaff and dust
out the back of the machine and save the grain into the hopper. Farmers still
use the ancient expression to talk about the job a combine is doing, “saving
grain.”

John the Baptist used winnowing as an illustration of God’s
judgment on sin. He said about Messiah, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and
he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12)

The Bible compares destruction to being made “like the dust
at threshing.” For example, “There was not left to Jehoahaz [much of] an army …
for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at
threshing.” (2 Kings 13:7)

Dust refers to the curses for sin. Because the Devil sinned
by tempting Adam and Eve, God cursed him. His curse was to eat dust. “The Lord
God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed … on your
belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust.’” (Genesis 3:14)

For Adam’s sin, God said, “Cursed is the ground for your
sake.” (Genesis 3:17) He cursed the dust from which Adam came and to which Adam
would go in burial. Under the curse, the field brought forth weeds with the
crop. (Genesis 3:18) Jesus used weeds as symbols of sinners sewn by the Devil.
(Matthew 13:24-30) After pronouncing this curse, God next said, “For out of [the
ground] you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
(Genesis 3:19)

For Jesus to be buried is to go the way of dust, sin,
curse, and judgment. Jesus volunteered to be buried for us. He hid his holiness
in the grave, under dust, under our sin. “He assigned His grave with wicked
men.” (Isaiah 53:9).

Combining was pretty rough on Jesus. It blew him out the
back of the machine like dust, returning to the ground. In burial, Jesus
underwent the winnowing of God for us. He went to the place of dust and was
under the judgment of God for our sins, while we, like grain, were saved.

Burial did something to Christ’s glory. Burial humiliated
him for our salvation. Because Jesus went to our grave for us, He has sanctified
our graves, removing sin, curse, shame, and judgment, and making our burials in
him holy and blessed.